Wat betekent “hoezo” in het Nederlands?

Hoezo is a contraction of hoe zo ("how so") that's been promoted to a single word in spoken Dutch. It functions as a one-word question demanding clarification. Where English would say "how come?" or "what do you mean?" or "why?" depending on context, Dutch reaches for hoezo to cover all three. It's terse, mildly challenging, and one of the first words Dutch teens master to push back on parents and teachers.

The phrase has a slight register shift. Said neutrally, hoezo is just a clarification request. Said with rising challenge, it's closer to "excuse me?" or "really?" — a soft confrontation. Dutch siblings use this version constantly; it's also a staple of Dutch reality-TV arguments, where one contestant's claim is met with a flat hoezo from another.

The phrase also works as a sentence-final tag, as in "Boos, hoezo?" (mad, why?) — challenging the assumption embedded in the previous statement.